Cespedes is a power hitter, in the middle of his power peak. He’s going from a stadium that hates hitters to one that loves ’em. But he’s also a pretty poor OBP guy – he’s getting on base at just a .303 clip this year.

Fuld goes back to Oakland, the team he started the year with. He’d been a key bench player in Tampa the last three years, coming in as a defensive replacement more often than not. He’s a slightly better threat to get on base than Cespedes and is a better base runner but he’s nothing close to the departed Cuban in the power department.

It’s that defensive value that he brings that is everything in this change. Fuld is the kind of guy you need in the enormous outfield at O.co. Tie him in with the now-white hot rotation that Oakland’s assembled, you understand what Billy Beane is doing.